


I could use a rhythm

by bansheee



Category: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Baking, Female Friendship, Friendship, Leah POV, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 07:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12316890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bansheee/pseuds/bansheee
Summary: It wasn’t until she got to the band room that she heard the singing. It was instantly recognizable as the lead singer of her band. Leah hesitated outside the door for a second before turning the handle. Taylor was singing one of the songs they were narrowing down to for their talent show performance, and smiled at Leah without missing a note.





	I could use a rhythm

“I need three cups of powdered sugar,” Leah said to her mom, balancing the whisk on the edge of the bowl. She turned around to their stove and stirred the melting chocolate chips.  
  
“You know, we could always just tweak the box stuff next time,” her mom said as she used her finger to level off the measuring cup. “Or go to Publix, like Simon’s.” Usually Leah made birthday cakes by herself, but her mom had the holiday off and insisted on helping where she could.  
  
“Morgan would know,” Leah said, smiling to her mom. “And Bram has been even more silent than normal at lunch this past week, so he needs something to cheer him up.”  
  
Her mom smiled as she dumped the powdered sugar into the bowl. Leah added the rest of the ingredients into the bowl for the frosting as her mother putzed with the cakes cooling on their counter. She touched her finger to the top of one of them, and leah watched as the cake sprang back up.  
  
“They should be good to go,” her mom said. She walked over to a drawer and dug out a rubber spatula. “I’ll frost, you decorate?”  
  
Leah nodded. She reached for a cake writer - the only store-bought part - and watched while her mom expertly frosted the first cake. When she was done, her mom slid the cake over to Leah. After slowly and meticulously spelling out ‘Happy Birthday Morgan’, Leah drew cat ears above the words, and added whiskers around Morgan’s name. On Bram’s, she drew a soccer ball and a jersey. She thought about texting Nick and asking what Bram’s jersey number was, but Nick had been even more silent than usual this weekend, so Leah decided against it. Carefully, she packed up both of the cakes into carriers and put them near her backpack on the counter.  
  
Nick and Simon’s silence over the long weekend didn’t really phase Leah until school on Tuesday. She was early to English, and took a seat towards the back of the room behind Anna. When Simon, Nick and Abby walked in laughing a few moments later, none of them noticed her, or that her normal desk was empty. All three of them crammed onto the couch with Garrett and Bram. She watched Bram look down to his notebook. He was usually quiet, but for turning seventeen the day before, he seemed pretty miserable.  
  
It wasn’t until French that Leah figured out what was going on. Madame Blanc called for them to work in pairs and practice the back and forth of normal conversation. Leah looked towards Simon, but he and Abby were already scooting their desks closer together. Leah exhaled sharply through her nose and rolled her eyes.  
  
“ _Tu as... besoin d'un... partenaire?_ ” Garrett’s French was choppy, but she understood him well enough. Leah looked up.  
  
“ _Oui_ .” At Least Garrett could fill the silence she didn’t want to face. Maybe she could even figure out what was up with Bram.  
  
Like most of the rest of the class, Leah and Garrett only spoke when the teacher was near them. In broken, slow French, Garrett told her how, “ _j'adore le football... je joue du piano... et… je crains_ my partner isn’t listening to me.”  
  
“Shh,” Leah said, looking behind him to where Madame Blanc was walking away from Simon and Abby. Her heart felt like it was in her throat as she listened to Abby recall the details of their weekend. She could feel her cheeks get redder and redder as they talked. While they laughed together and Abby smiled like she was a lovesick puppy, Leah felt a lump swell up in her throat.  
  
Nick and Abby were official. If that didn’t signify her replacement in the friend group, she didn’t know what else would.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, Leah saw Garrett lean closer to her. “Are you okay, Leah?” She knew if she actually looked at him and saw how fucking concerned he was, she’d start crying.  
  
Instead, Leah took a deep breath and looked up to the fluorescent lights. She waited until the light stung her eyes and the tears went away. She looked to Garrett.  
  
“Fucking _bien_.”  
  
Before lunch, Leah went to her locker to get Morgan and Bram’s cakes. When she pushed her locker shut with her foot, Morgan appeared in front of her. She was wearing a sweatshirt that looked new; it had whiskers and a nose on the front pocket, and cat ears sewn on the hood. Despite her mood, Leah smiled at it.  
  
“Assuming you heard the big news,” Morgan said, grimacing.  
  
Leah pursed her lips and said nothing.  
  
“Are you okay?” Morgan asked, walking beside her.  
  
Leah stopped walking. “Can you take these to lunch?” she asked, holding up both of the cakes. “I can’t deal with the fucking people at that table today.”  
  
Morgan nodded and took both of the cakes, holding the containers carefully against her chest. She looked down to the one on the top and smiled. “I love it.”  
  
“Tell Anna there’s more frosting on Bram’s,” Leah told her, refusing to let the shake in her voice be heard.  
  
Morgan smiled sadly at her. “Text me if you need me to kick someone’s ass.”  
  
Leah smiled back. “I will.”  
  
They both waved goodbye, and Morgan set off towards the cafeteria.  
  
Leah went to the music hall.  
  
It wasn’t until she got to the band room that she heard the singing. It was instantly recognizable as the lead singer of her band. Leah hesitated outside the door for a second before turning the handle. Taylor was singing one of the songs they were narrowing down to for their talent show performance, and smiled at Leah without missing a note. The acoustics in the room made her voice sound even better, and Leah smiled back. She walked across the room towards the percussion equipment to grab a stack of mutes for the school’s kit.  
  
Taylor finished the verse of her song before saying, “You don’t have to; I could use a rhythm.”  
  
Leah looked up at Taylor. “Do you want to run through Billie Jean?”  
  
She could go for a run through her solo.  
  
Taylor smiled in response, and Leah started in with the beat to the song. Without any of the other instruments, Taylor started in without buildup, and Leah couldn’t help but smile as Taylor effortlessly matched her rhythm. They sounded odd without Nora, Anna or Morgan, but it worked for them. Taylor got into the music, and started to move her hips along with the beat. Leah smiled as they moved into the chorus. Taylor ran her fingers through her hair and grinned as Leah moved into her solo.  
  
After the song, Leah set her drumsticks on the snare and looked up at Taylor. “So are you too cool to eat in the cafeteria?”  
  
Taylor rolled her eyes. She pointed towards her stuff, where a Michael Jackson lunch bag sat open on one of the band chairs. “I don’t eat the processed garbage they serve in the cafeteria.” Leah resisted the urge to roll her eyes right back. If they could afford any different, she probably wouldn’t either. “You can have some if you want.”  
  
Leah shook her head, and said, “No thanks.” Her appetite was still gone from French.  
  
Taylor shrugged and started eating, and Leah buried herself in the beat of the drums in front of her to forget everything. Taylor nodded along to her beat as she let out all of her anger and frustration and sadness into every beat of the drums.  
  
That night, Leah wasn’t daft enough to expect anything from Nick or Simon about her absence at lunch. She was pretty sure she could have skipped class altogether and Simon and Nick wouldn’t have noticed either way. When the only text she got was one from Bram thanking her for the cake, Leah went to bed with tears in her eyes.  
  
Her mom was at work when she got up the following morning, and Leah knew she wouldn’t be home until later that night, so she shut her phone’s alarm off and slept in. She got to school just in time to miss English and French. During chemistry, she got texts from Morgan and Anna in their group chat, both filled with various heart emojis. Leah sent a single heart back to them.  
  
As she started towards the music hall from her locker, Leah blinked in surprise when Taylor walked up to her.  
  
“Come with me,” Taylor said, not pausing to see if Leah was actually following. Leah wanted to go hide in one of the practice rooms, but when she looked towards the hall, she saw Abby and Nick holding hands and walking in her direction. Leah quickly zipped up her sweatshirt and followed Taylor towards the front doors. She felt her eyes go wide as they briskly walked past the security guard in front of the school. She wanted to say something about how they weren’t supposed to leave the school, but Taylor seemed to be sure of herself enough that Leah’s concerns died on her tongue. Leah heard the beep and click of a car being unlocked and looked towards the source of the noise.  
  
Taylor’s car was easily the nicest one in the entire student lot. Taylor gestured for her to get in the passenger seat, and Leah twisted her fingers together. The interior was perfectly clean and Leah felt like she was going to break something if she touched anything.  
  
As soon as Taylor shut her door, she started digging through her purse in her lap. She made a small, successful noise as she pulled out her inhaler, before quickly shaking and using it. Taylor closed her eyes and held her breath, and Leah could see her mouth counting before she exhaled.  
  
Taylor was quiet as she turned her car on and left the school parking lot, so Leah said nothing. She watched raindrops race along the car window as they drove through town.  
  
When Taylor slowed her car and turned on her signal into the Chick-Fil-A parking lot, Leah finally spoke. “I thought you didn’t put shitty food in your body.”  
  
“I didn’t ask why you were avoiding your friends yesterday and why you weren't in science today,” Taylor retorted.  
  
Leah blinked at her, and Taylor shot her a fake smile. “Fair enough,” Leah said, settling back into the passenger seat. They both ordered when Taylor pulled up to the drive-thru. Before Leah could offer, Taylor pulled out a credit card and waved Leah off. They talked about set list changes for the talent show while they ate, before Taylor drove them back to school.  
  
Later that night, Leah’s phone lit up with a text message as she was getting into bed. It was from Taylor.  
  
_Thanks for today._  
  
No explanation, no question about her, just a thank you. Leah smiled. She unlocked her phone and pulled up the text.  
  
_Thanks for yesterday._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the lovely Sian for the French translations! This story got stuck in my head like a month ago, and it was sitting in my WIP's forever. Call this a testament to how excited I am for more badass girl band scenes in Leah on the Offbeat. 
> 
> [My tumblr is here](http://cutebramgreenfeld.tumblr.com) if you wanna say hi!


End file.
